Packers WR Jeff Janis: 'This is just the next step'

Green Bay --- Wide receiver Jeff Janis might be have been a steal in the seventh round for Green Bay. Few wide receivers in the entire draft are put together like him in terms of size, speed, etc.

Yet as his position coach at Saginaw Valley State explained in today's story, Janis will need to learn to bring it every game, every play. He didn't need to in college. He dominated.

To which, Janis says he did begin to give it everything he had, all the time, when he realized the NFL was a reality.

Here's that and more from Janis below. The seventh-round pick discusses his speed, his work in the weight room, Jordy Nelson and more:

On if it's surreal being in the NFL... “Yeah, pretty much. But I’ve been playing football for so long that every year it’s another step. So this is just the next step. I’m just looking forward to playing football.”

On growing up in Tawas City... “I did a lot of hunting and fishing and hanging out with a lot of kids in the neighborhood. I was right in the middle of all three schools—middle school, elementary school and high school—so I was real close to that. Growing up, I just did a lot of stuff outdoors, so I like being in Green Bay.”

On what can separate him at WR... “I think it all started with hitting the weight room when I started to grow. Toward the end of my freshman year, I really started dedicating myself to the weight room. We didn’t have much of a weightlifting program with our football team, so I was really the only one who stuck to it. And it really paid off for me. I think that’s a big reason I got a scholarship to play in college.

“I really started hitting it when I was a sophomore in high school. I was still really small. I didn’t start growing until late my senior year and a couple years into college I was still growing.”

On where the speed comes from... “That’s a good question. It must have been something I got handed down to me from my parents. They weren’t really athletes growing up, but maybe it was in them. Luckily, I exploited it and I can use it.

“I think speed in anybody who’s fast, it just has to be given to you. You really can’t teach speed. You can improve upon it. But a lot of people who are fast, are just born that way.”

On when he really put himself on the map... "I think it was after my junior year. I had a pretty good year and people around me started talking about me going to the NFL. At that time, you say, ‘Yeah, OK, but you don’t really think it’ll ever happen. And I really started working at it going into my senior year because I thought it’d be possible. I had a great year my senior year also and it started taking off. Now, I’m just enjoying the ride.”

On what can make him a D-II player that lasts... “I think work ethic, period, is something that’ll make me last. I’m already seeing it now. They throw a lot of stuff at you really fast. You just have to work at it every day, study and make sure you come in the next day with your stuff done.”

On not needing to go 100% all the time, if this was a process... “Yeah, but once I realized I might be going to the NFL, it was just something I had inside me that if I’m going to make it to the next level, I’m really going to have to give it my all and show them that I can really dominate this competition. So that’s what I took with me every day.”

On Jordy Nelson... “He’s probably the one everybody compared me to throughout this whole process. So to have him be in the same locker room as me now, and to watch him is really great. He’s one of the most fundamentally sound receivers there are out there. To take lessons from him and watch him is great.

“We talked a little bit about Saginaw because he actually played with Ruvell Martin here in Green Bay. So we had a little connection there. Those guys are pretty good friends, so we talked about that for a little bit.”

On what he'll need to work on... “Just offense in general, getting that down. And route running is something that’s going to be huge, too. ...I think Jordy is one of the most fundamentally sound receivers out there. So when you see him doing it, it means you have to do it.”

About Tyler Dunne

Tyler Dunne covers the Green Bay Packers. He has been on the beat since 2011, winning awards with the Pro Football Writers of America and Milwaukee Press Club.